Goodbye to the breathalyzer

A little while ago I wrote about a daft new bit of legislation that the then Sarkozy government was planning to introduce. As of the middle of 2012 we were all supposed to carry 2 breathalyzers in our cars and if we were stopped by the gendarmes and couldn’t produce them we would be in trouble (a fine of a huge 11 Euros). Did Carla have a friend with the breathalyzer factory? Someone was in for a big windfall one would have thought. Someone obviously didn’t do their sums because at the start date most people hadn’t managed to buy one let alone two – there were none in the shops as there wasn’t the capacity to make enough. So we had a reprieve until November. November came and went. I just happened to notice the local supermarket had them on sale the other day at the checkout. We must be getting close to the thing finally going live, I thought. Then this week interior minister, Manuel Walls, announced that the legislation was on hold – indefinitely. It turns out the little things we’ve all bought aren’t very reliable…! Bet the producers who have just invested in new capacity to meet demand are a bit cheesed off! Un grand cock-urp, je pense…